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Purpose: Preclinical studies have suggested promising activity for the combination of disulfiram and copper (DSF/Cu) against glioblastoma (GBM) including re-sensitization to temozolomide (TMZ). A previous phase I study demonstrated the safety of combining DSF/Cu with adjuvant TMZ for newly diagnosed GBM. This phase II study aimed to estimate the potential effectiveness of DSF/Cu to re-sensitize recurrent GBM to TMZ. Methods: This open-label, single-arm phase II study treated recurrent TMZ-resistant GBM patients with standard monthly TMZ plus concurrent daily DSF 80 mg PO TID and Cu 1.5 mg PO TID. Eligible patients must have progressed after standard chemoradiotherapy and within 3 months of the last dose of TMZ. Known isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutant or secondary GBMs were excluded. The primary endpoint was objective response rate (ORR), and the secondary endpoints included progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), clinical benefit (response or stable disease for at least 6 months), and safety. Results: From March 2017 to January 2018, 23 recurrent TMZ-resistant GBM patients were enrolled across seven centers, and 21 patients were evaluable for response. The median duration of DSF/Cu was 1.6 cycles (range: 0.1–12.0). The ORR was 0%, but 14% had clinical benefit. Median PFS was 1.7 months, and median OS was 7.1 months. Only one patient (4%) had dose-limiting toxicity (grade three elevated alanine transaminase). Conclusions: Addition of DSF/Cu to TMZ for TMZ-resistant IDH-wild type GBM appears well tolerated but has limited activity for unselected population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cancer screening rates are suboptimal for low-income patients. Objective: To assess an intervention to increase cancer screening among patients in a safety-net primary care practice. Design: Patients at an inner-city family practice who were overdue for cancer screening were randomized to intervention or usual care. Screening rates at 1 year were compared using the chi-square test, and multivariable analysis was performed to adjust for patient factors. Subjects: All average-risk patients at an inner-city family practice overdue for mammography or colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Patients' ages were 40 to 74 years (mean 53.9, SD 8.7) including 40.8 % African Americans, 4.2 % Latinos, 23.2 % with Medicaid and 10.9 % without any form of insurance. Intervention: The 6-month intervention to promote cancer screening included letters, automated phone calls, prompts and a mailed Fecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT) Kit. Main Measures: Rates of cancer screening at 1 year. Key Results: Three hundred sixty-six patients overdue for screening were randomly assigned to intervention ( n = 185) or usual care ( n = 181). Primary analysis revealed significantly higher rates of cancer screening in intervention subjects: 29.7 % vs. 16.7 % for mammography ( p = 0.034) and 37.7 % vs. 16.7 % for CRC screening ( p = 0.0002). In the intervention group, 20 % of mammography screenings and 9.3 % of CRC screenings occurred at the early assessment, while the remainder occurred after repeated interventions. Within the CRC intervention group 44 % of screened patients used the mailed FIT kit. On multivariable analysis the CRC screening rates remained significantly higher in the intervention group, while the breast cancer screening rates were not statistically different. Conclusions: A multimodal intervention significantly increased CRC screening rates among patients in a safety-net primary care practice. These results suggest that relatively inexpensive letters and automated calls can be combined for a larger effect. Results also suggest that mailed screening kits may be a promising way to increase average-risk CRC screening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify recent studies in the scientific literature that evaluated structured postgraduate public health and biomedical training programs and reported career outcomes among individual trainees, a comprehensive search of several databases was conducted to identify published studies in English between January 1995 and January 2012. Studies of interest included those that evaluated career outcomes for trainees completing full-time public health or biomedical training programs of at least 12 months duration, with structured training offered on-site. Of the over 600 articles identified, only 13 met the inclusion criteria. Six studies evaluated US federal agency programs and six were of university-based programs. Seven programs were solely or predominantly of physicians, with only one consisting mainly of PhDs. Most studies used a cohort or cross-sectional design. The studies were mainly descriptive, with only four containing statistical data. Type of employment was the most common outcome measure (n = 12) and number of scientific publications (n = 6) was second. The lack of outcomes evaluation data from postgraduate public health and biomedical training programs in the published literature is a lost opportunity for understanding the career paths of trainees and the potential impact of training programs. Suggestions for increasing interest in conducting and reporting evaluation studies of these structured postgraduate training programs are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies were performed with a semisolid agar culture system to determine the in vitro sensitivity of human ovarian carcinoma to human leukocyte interferon (IFN-alpha) and standard chemotherapeutic agents (adriamycin, cis-platinum, hexamethylmelamine, melphalan, and velban). Growth in culture occurred in 67% of samples derived from ascitic fluid and 71% of these exhibited reduction in tumor colony number by greater than or equal to 25% in response to 300 units interferon/ml. The responsiveness of the ascitic fluid samples to interferon ran parallel to the overall responsiveness to the other agents tested. Sensitivity to interferon was not related to the histology or grade of the tumor or to the stage of the disease. As compared with cell suspensions prepared from ascitic fluid samples, solid tumor samples had markedly lower viability, 39% vs 89%, and had more tumor cells, 81% vs 28%. Also, colonies derived from solid tumor samples were less sensitive to interferon and more sensitive to cis-platinum and adriamycin than were ascitic fluid-derived colonies. Three of four ascitic fluid samples showed a reduction in tumor colony number of greater than or equal to 25%, whereas none of the solid tumor samples obtained from the same donors were affected by interferon to that degree. Retrospective analysis of drug testing (exclusive of interferon) for in vitro: in vivo correlations revealed that in 58% of 12 evaluable situations, when a single drug (or at least one of a group of drugs) gave a positive response in vitro, stabilization or regression of the tumor occurred in vivo after treatment with the drug. These studies prove the utility of the semisolid agar culture system for assessing the antiproliferative effects of interferon against ovarian carcinoma, and will be of utility in the future for assessing whether various types of interferon have the same degree, range, and mechanism of action of antitumor effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]